So glad my dad got a new toy........AutoXray scan tool. My 6th gen V6 coupe isnt running right, so I gave it a whirl.

It ran thru the tests, and when I viewed data I found the following:

Fail High - Primary Heated Oxygen Sensor Heater ( Bank 1 )
Pass High - Primary Heated Oxygen Sensor Heater ( Bank 1 )
Fail High - Secondary Heated Oxygen Sensor Heater ( Bank 1 )
Pass High - Secondary Heated Oxygen Sensor Heater ( Bank 1 )

So, I dont know if the passes negate the fails, but my car has been feeling pretty sluggish for a while now, probably about 7K miles. It only has about 42K miles on it now, and the CEL is NOT on (so of course the dealer never found anything).

Anyone know what these tests mean? Do I really need two new O2 sensors? Is this whats causing my car to be so sluggish?

Thanks!!!
-Chris

 

The O2 sensor as far as I know should not cause your car to be sluggish.

All the O2 sensor does is monitor the ratio of polluting exhaust and air exiting your motor in order for the cat to clean it up before spitting it out the tail pipe and into the environment. Basically if the level of pollutants is too high the o2 sensor will cause more air to be added to the mix which triggers a reaction in the cat to clean up the exhaust.

Is there a problem with your O2?....Maybe

Is it causing your car to be sluggish?... it shouldn't be

 

dont those messages being sent by the o2 get sent to the ECU? My understanding of the ECU, be it very limited, is that if the exhaust was to rich, then the O2 would tell the ECU, thus causing the ECU to to add more fuel.
Im only 85% sure if im right on that one. . .

But here is what to really dont understand. . .By adding more fuel to the mixture, would the OBDII then retard the timing inorder to "correct" the problem? or would it retard the timing? would it do neither?

If it did either, wouldnt that effect the "feel" of the car? If the timing is retarded all the way back, the car would be dropping power wouldnt it?



also, chrisexv6, how much was the sacn tool? im trying to get my dad to buy one.

 

I agree with Drift's explanation. The O2 sensors tell the ECU to run rich or lean, depending on O2 "sensed" in the exhaust. I believe it causes leaner when its colder and richer when its hotter (or vice versa, I forget). If there really is something wrong with the sensor, it might be richening when it should be leaning or the other way around. Too much fuel in the mixture (rich) causes sluggish performance. The voltage on the O2 sensor according to the scanner was too high.........the higher the voltage, the richer it runs the mixture, so that goes along with creating sluggish performance.

But since my CEL hasnt come on, I cant really be sure its a bad sensor. And the fact that both O2 sensor heaters were showing the same "fail high" leads me to believe that both would be dead, which is odd for both of them to go at the same time.

As far as the scan tool, its an AutoXray EZScan 4000. My dad got it off Ebay for 259 from Levine Automotive here in CT, and I was able to just run down to the local Levine and pick it up (Ebay BIN price was 40.00 cheaper than the store). So far I like it, but I hear there are better models out there that can also analyze the "sub-computers" in the car (i.e. airbag computer, tranny computer, etc), but they are much more expensive as well.

-Chris